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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Hello, friends! I hope everyone has had a great holiday season thus far. My husband and I were busy working in the garage on some gifts prior to Christmas, so I’m glad for a little reprieve.

While the hubs was working on a wine rack for his parents, I was ankle deep in sawdust making a kitchen for my boys. If you’re an Ana White fan, I’m sure you’ve seen these plans in the past, and you’ve likely seen other bloggers with their own version of the project. I’m here to tell you that any or all of them who said it’s a breeze is full of it. I had many moments where, if the boys hadn’t been sleeping, I would have been throwing things or at the very least yelling. Alas, I kept my building rage contained and tried to channel it into finishing the project before the 23rd, which I fortunately did.

Due to budget constraints, I tried to do this project as cheaply as possible, which I think I accomplished. Most of the wood used in this project was left over from other projects, with the exception of the wood I used to make the oven and sink doors.

For the doors I attached pine 1x2 and 1x4 using pocket holes make via Kreg jig. This is what a Kreg jig looks like, if you haven’t used one before. It allows you to attach pieces of wood without having a visible screw or nail. For all other attachment points I used a countersink bit and wood screws, then used wood putty to fill in the hole, sanded and painted to give it a nice seamless finish. I used a piece of beadboard on the sink door and plexiglass for the oven door.

For the sink basin I used a dog bowl and a faucet leftover from our bathroom redo. I modeled the stove after ours with a “glass top,” painting the top black and using the same paint from the rest of the project to make the “burners.” The knobs are from Hobby Lobby and the pulls, hinges and magnetic closes are from Home Depot. The plexiglass on the oven door is a precut piece from HD as well.

The boys were really excited to see their kitchen and have had a great time playing with it, which I love, of course—makes all that hard work totally worth it!

Did any of you make your Christmas presents? If so I would love to see them!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Yeah, yeah I’m a week late, but I haven’t had batteries in my camera to upload these pics, so save this post for your next abundance of leftover meat.

This is a really simple meal I got while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. I don’t remember the name of the chef who made it, but he was a very attractive Italian chef. Feel free to name him in the comments if you know who he is.

What you will need:

1 tube of crescent rolls. I used store brand reduced-fat.

Jarred pesto. Classico shown here.

1 cup Cubed turkey

2 roma tomatoes. I removed the seeds and surrounding plasma.

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese.

A few shakes of Italian seasoning (not pictured).

Preheat your oven to 375*. Unroll the dough and try to keep together as best you can. Press into the bottom of a greased baking dish.

Spread the pesto on the dough in a somewhat thin layer. You want to have enough for flavor, but too much will make your dish soggy. This is heading towards too much.

Spread your turkey evenly on top of the pesto.

Sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella on top of the turkey.

Spread tomatoes evenly over cheese.

Cover the dish with the rest of your cheese. Sprinkle Italian seasoning on cheese. Bake at 375* for 15-20 minutes or until crust is brown and cheese is bubbly.

Cut, serve and enjoy! I cut this into 6 pieces and there was only one left after dinner. This meal was a big hit (except with my 3 year old who is super picky)! You could easily use leftover chicken if you don’t want to wait until next post-Thanksgiving to make this. Let me know if you tweak it any other way!